Hospital locked down as wounded Mexican police official treated

ALICIA A. CALDWELL

Published 6:00 pm, Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Associated Press Writer

A Mexican police commander who was shot several times in an ambush is under heavy police protection in an El Paso hospital, a precaution local officials are taking because of the recent wave of violence in neighboring Ciudad Juarez.

Cmdr. Fernando Lozano Sandoval, of the Chihuahua State Investigations Agency, was shot Monday night in the Mexican city just across the Rio Grande from El Paso. He was one of three police officials shot in Juarez over two days, and the only one to survive.

Lozano, identified by the El Paso County Sheriff's Office as a U.S. citizen, was taken Tuesday to El Paso County's Thomason Hospital, the only Level 1 trauma center within 280 miles. Details of his condition were not available Thursday.

El Paso police spokesman Officer Chris Mears said officers from his department are working with El Paso County deputy sheriffs and federal authorities to protect Lozano.

"We are assisting in the security there where the high profile patient is," Mears said. "We have officers there helping with the security."

Juarez officials told the El Paso Times that Lozano, 51, was transferred to the El Paso hospital Tuesday at the request of his family. He had been in critical condition at a Juarez hospital where he was guarded by armed Mexican soldiers.

In a statement Thursday, the hospital, without identifying Lozano, said a patient wasn't transferred, but rather was taken there after emergency responders answered a call about a critically injured patient at a border crossing in downtown El Paso on Tuesday night.

"The decision was based on Thomason's status as a Level 1 Trauma Center, the only facility in El Paso capable of providing the kind of medical care the patient required," the hospital said.

Jethro Armijo, a Thomason spokesman, said Thursday that security was enhanced at the hospital Wednesday based on events in Mexico, where the recent violence in Juarez led to federal soldiers being dispatched to the city.

Thursday morning, two uniformed police officers, one carrying what appeared to be a military-style rifle, stood outside the hospital's emergency room where a line had formed to enter the building. Armijo said access to the hospital was limited to the emergency room's entrance and exit.

"We made one point of entry and exit," Armijo said. "That was a joint decision between the hospital and authorities just to increase security based on the situation."

He said she did not know how long police would be at the hospital.

Armijo said information about Lozano's condition was not being released for security reasons.